Due to the lapse in appropriations, Department of Justice websites will not be regularly updated. The Department’s essential law enforcement and national security functions will continue. Please refer to the Department of Justice’s contingency plan for more information.

Justice News

Charlestown Man Sentenced on Drug Trafficking, Firearms Charges

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Jason D. Smith, 32, of Charlestown, R.I., was sentenced today to 72 months in federal prison on drug and firearms charges. Smith was arrested in September 2015 by members of the Rhode Island State Police High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Task Force after court authorized searches of Smith’s residence and a storage unit rented by Smith resulted in the seizure of five loaded handguns, a shotgun, and significant quantities of heroin, cocaine, ketamine, loose marijuana, mature marijuana plants, and oxycodone and Adderall pills. Law enforcement also discovered two fully functioning marijuana grows.

At sentencing, U.S. District Court Judge John J. McConnell, Jr., also ordered Jason Smith to serve three years supervised release upon completion of his prison term. Smith pleaded guilty on December 4, 2015, to possession with intent to distribute heroin, and possession of firearms and ammunition in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

Smith’s sentence is announced by United States Attorney Peter F. Neronha, Rhode Island State Police Superintendent Colonel Steven G. O’Donnell, Daniel J. Kumor, Special Agent in Charge of the Boston Field Division of ATF, and Charlestown Police Chief Jeffrey S. Allen.

According to information presented to the court, as a result of information developed by the HIDTA Task Force during an investigation into Smith’s drug trafficking activities, law enforcement obtained and executed court authorized search warrants at Smith’s residence and a storage unit rented by Smith.

From Smith’s residence, which he shared with his girlfriend and a young child, and which was equipped with several exterior surveillance cameras, law enforcement seized five loaded handguns, a shotgun, several extended capacity magazines of ammunition, 383 grams of heroin – some mixed with fentanyl and ketamine, 101 grams of ketamine, 52 grams of cocaine, 227 oxycodone pills, 27 Adderall pills, more than 10 kilograms of loose marijuana, and a fully functioning marijuana grow which contained 63 mature marijuana plants. Law enforcement also seized numerous items used in the packaging and distribution of drugs.

Agents from ATF assisted the HIDTA Task Force in the investigation of this matter. The HIDTA Task Force is managed by the Rhode Island State Police and comprised of members from Providence Police, Pawtucket Police, Johnston Police, Central Falls Police, North Providence Police, West Warwick Police, United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and the United States Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement-Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).